Cardiac pacing leads are well known and widely employed for carrying pulse stimulation signals to the heart from a battery operated pacemaker, or other pulse generating means, as well as for monitoring electrical activity of the heart from a location outside of the body. Electrical energy is applied to the heart via an electrode to return the heart to normal rhythm. Some factors that affect electrode performance include polarization at the electrode/tissue interface, electrode capacitance, sensing impedance, and voltage threshold. In all of these applications, it is highly desirable to optimize electrical performance characteristics at the electrode/tissue interface.
Recognized performance challenges of materials conventionally used as electrodes include difficulty controlling tissue in-growth, inflammation in the vicinity of the implanted device and/or the formation of fibrous scar tissue. These challenges may lead to difficulty in extracting the lead and/or reduced electrode performance over time.